How to Improv?

Finding the Funny

The first thing that makes the audience laugh is probably going to tell you what is funny about the scene, and you can continue to build off of that idea. It’s ok if it takes a bit of dialogue to figure out what is going to be funny in a scene.

A lot of what makes something funny is how it is unusual. You can have characters who are unusual, or the entire universe of your scene can be unusual. Once you realize what is unusual, you can focus on that unusual thing to demonstrate how it is weird and different from what you would expect to happen in real life.

This idea of the funny or unusual aspect of a scene can also be called ‘game’. Playing the game is basically finding ways to shine a spotlight on the funny things about your character or the universe in your scene. Take a look at the video on the right and see if you can pinpoint the 'game' of the sketch.

Yes, and...

If you've ever been to an improv workshop (or watched a movie making fun of improv workshops) you've probably heard of this concept. The basic idea is that when someone presents an idea in an improv scene, you want to say yes to that idea, and then figure out how to add on to it. Here's a classic example of what happens when we don't follow 'yes, and':

"Don't move! I've got a gun and I'm not afraid to shoot!"

"That's not a gun, that's just your hand."

While it might be tempting to try and change up a scene like this, it makes it difficult for your fellow improvisers to figure out what to do next. Always saying 'yes, and' means that you can help your scene partners shine, which makes you both look good!

This idea also ties into playing the 'game' of a scene. When your partner presents a funny idea, say yes to that and see if you can find more ways to show of that funny idea and play the game. The clip to the left showcases how saying 'yes, and' adds to the humor of the scene.

CROW

In any improv scene, it's important to establish your character and your motivation for being in the scene. You can quickly do this by remembering the acronym CROW: character, relationship, objective, and where. Establish who your character is, your character's relationship to other characters in the scene, what your goal is, and where the scene is taking place. For example, you might open a scene saying something like, "Come on Dad, we'll never get out of this tunnel if we can't figure out how to read this map!". You can take the first few moments of the scene to make sure all of this information is clear to the audience. Once you have established CROW, it's easier for the audience to follow along with the humor of the scene!

Lettin' Loose

Improvisers often say "Don't try to be funny". This is a little misleading, because of course the goal of improv is to make people laugh! What we really mean to say is don't overdo it and try to be a stand-up comedian. Stand-up comics have to work all by themselves to keep the audience laughing with new jokes and one-liners. In improv, we are lucky to be able to rely on our teammates to help us "find the funny". That means we can experiment more with silly characters and weird ideas and we don't have to force ourselves to come up with something funny, we can trust the process and our partners to back us up!

In a similar vein, stay away from themes that get a reaction purely from shock value. This can alienate the audience as well as our fellow improvisers. As a team, we support people of all backgrounds and we do not condone racist, sexist, ableist, or homophobic attitudes in our comedy.

Different Formats

jericho! specializes in longform improv, which means that we will perform for 15 minutes or more based on a single suggestion. There are many different formats that make up longform improv. You don't need to know them all, but if you are interested in learning more this is a useful website: https://www.learnimprov.com/long-forms/

There are also 3 other improv teams on campus, as well as a sketch comedy team! We all have a different style, so check out these other groups to find out what suits you best!

TBD comedy: longform, shortform, and sketch comedy

Best laid plans: longform

Improv4charity: shortform

Bootleg Comedy: sketch comedy

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